


A Murder

by 56leon



Series: Murderverse [1]
Category: Dangan Ronpa, Haikyuu!!
Genre: Despair, Everybody Dies, M/M, Pre-Dangan Ronpa, don't even bother thinking somebody's gonna make it, high school life of mutual killing, like I'm not going to sugarcoat it, there's hella death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-18
Updated: 2014-08-13
Packaged: 2018-02-05 03:49:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1804222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/56leon/pseuds/56leon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"It was going to happen eventually. Somebody pushes the wrong button, and bam- we get the execution and the killer doesn't think twice about the people he's sentenced to death."</p><p>Everybody has the capacity for murder, even the members of the Karasuno High School volleyball team. <i>Especially</i> the members of the Karasuno High School volleyball team.</p><p>Chapter Three is now up!!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> We're losers and we like killing imaginary people. Sorry.
> 
> Joint project with tumblr user PrincessHistoriaReiss

The lights that blinded Ukai Keishin were stronger than those of any volleyball arena he had ever stepped foot onto, made only worse by having been woken up from what he assumed was a highly illegal knockout drug. One moment, he had been with his team, poring over the schedule for the mid-semester tournament that he had managed to secure a spot in; the next, he had awoken here, in an abandoned facility with nothing but the chair he was tied to, and...Takeda.

“W-Where are we?” The teacher in question seemed much more awake than Ukai himself, as he was able to speak coherently enough to form the questions quickly erupting from his mouth. “Are we in trouble? I-I think our bus was hijacked! Who’s there? Terrorists?!”

“Sh’t ‘p,” Ukai managed to mumble through what felt like a mouthful of cotton, even though a quick check told him that his mouth was, in fact, empty, and that it was probably just a side effect of whatever their kidnappers had done to them. “Y’re g’v’ng m’a h’d’che.”

Takeda opened his mouth as if to retort, but was interrupted by a grim chuckle, seeming to resonate from all corners of the room. “Upupupu, it looks like you two are awake!” Ukai bit back a sharp breath and Takeda’s eyes practically rolled into the back of his head as a figure raised up in front of them, holding its hands - paws? - together in excitement. “How are my esteemed guests feeling?”

“Oy, Takeda, it’s just a stuffed toy.” Almost comically, the teacher came to and stared incredulously at the monochromatic teddy bear in front of them, disbelief evident in his face. Ukai snorted. “We were kidnapped by a teddy bear, this is classic.”

The bear huffed, but there was something off with its voice this time. “I a-ain’t just a teddy bear, b-b-buster! I-I-I’m c-c- _aw, damnit. Work, you piece of shit Monokuma!_ ” A different voice echoed around them this time, much more noticeably feminine and emotional than the voice of Monokuma, who Ukai expected to be the bear. “ _Yotsuma, next time you steal an algorithm, make sure it’s a properly_ functioning _algorithm!_ ” Another figure appeared in front of them, hidden by shadows, and a finely manicured hand slammed onto the top of Monokuma’s head, twisting it sharply. The head came off with a loud _crunch_ , making both Ukai and Takeda flinch, but the bear was revealed to be nothing inside but multi-colored wires and odd looking boxes that the hand was careful not to touch as it prodded the inside of the bear. As the hand whipped out a flashlight to get a better look inside the mechanical monster, the two men were allowed a glimpse of their captor, who appeared now to be no older than sixteen or seventeen with strawberry blonde hair and large blue eyes.

“Wait, I know you!” Takeda gasped, making the girl look up at him sharply. He ignored her glare and rambled on. “You’re, uh...that’s right, you’re Enoshima Junko! The celebrity that got into that prestigious school?”

Ukai relaxed slightly, if for only a second. A celebrity would have no need to resort to murder, right? Junko’s own shoulders sagged as well, even though she looked more irritated than relieved. “Uh, yeah. Mukuro?”

“Should I kill them now?” Okay, he was so not expecting another girl to melt out of the shadows, this one carrying what looked like a military-issued sniper rifle, if his uncle’s service years were anything to go from. Her eyes followed his and Takeda’s movements, which were still limited to kicking legs and moving heads.

As if used to Mukuro’s words, Junko rolled her eyes. “You really need to work on the whole despair thing, geez. We’re supposed to _break_ them, and _then_ kill them. It’s no fun if they’re not despairing!” At her words, Takeda started flipping out even more, but Ukai was too far into his own thoughts to pay attention to the other man.

“Break us, what are you- _where are our kids_?” He roared the question before realizing the repercussions, and found a red laser trained on his forehead, forcing him to silence himself. Mukuro snorted softly before lowering her weapon, even though her sharp gaze was still on Ukai.

“Your kids are fine, Keishin Ukai-chan!” She paused, bringing a red manicured finger to her smile, which had suddenly turned...cute? “They’re all happy together, and as long as it stays that way, they’ll be safe~!” The smile faded from her face almost immediately afterwards. “Ugh, no way.”

Takeda at that point was in some state of paralysis, frozen with fear while his students’ names came rolling off of his lips like a desperate prayer. Junko seemed to ignore him, but glanced at him abruptly when he said something under his breath that even Ukai was unable to hear. “Eh, did you say something, Takeda-sensei~?”

Takeda repeated his words, quietly at first but with more force upon Mukuro’s special brand of encouragement. “H-Hinata? H-Hinata Shouyou...?”

Junko’s interest disappeared instantly. “Oh. _Your_ Hinata. I had thought for a second that- oh, well. He’s good as dead, anyways.”

“But you said that they were safe!” Ukai strained against the ropes tying him to the chair, baring his teeth at the oddly bipolar girl. She simply gave a long, irritated sigh and whipped out a pair of glasses, pushing them up with one finger.

“As long as they got along, I said, and if you haven’t noticed, _sensei_ , they’re a frictional group. No group like that would be able to resist temptation for long, Ukai-san.” Upon seeing his confused glare, she continued. “Put simply, what would you do if you were forced to live with Takeda-san for your entire life, with no contact with the rest of the world?” Ukai shook his head, refusing to answer her. Even if that were to happen, how did that relate to...? “And what if the only way to ever, ever escape was to murder Takeda-san?”

The puzzle pieces clicked, but he still refused to believe it. “Like hell they would kill each other! You’re psycho!”

Her laugh silenced him, and she removed her glasses, going back to her cutesy attitude. “I’m not psycho, silly! I’m the Ultimate Despair! And anyways,” she giggled once more, holding up a small black square, “you can get anybody to do anything, with enough motivation.” Pocketing the object, she gave the two men one final _toodle-oo_ and skipped out of the room, leaving the men with the silent Mukuro and the beheaded Monokuma.

She glanced at the decapitated robot, then back at the two men, raising her sniper rifle slowly. With one more look back at where Junko was watching gleefully, she shrugged nonchalantly-

“No hard feelings.”

-and pulled the trigger.


	2. Long Live - (Ab)Normal Days

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Guess who's fuckin dead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, not sorry. Art by [tumblr user PrincessHistoriaReiss](http://princesshistoriareiss.tumblr.com/).
> 
> Important note at the end of the chapter, so be sure to check it out - but after you read the chapter, of course!

When Hinata Shouyou woke up to the feeling of cold wood pressed against his cheek, he didn’t immediately register the fact that he was no longer on the bus that Coach Ukai had rented for their away tournament. Instead, he sat up with a grumble and grimaced, moving his jaw experimentally to get rid of the thick feeling stuck in his mouth. “Ah, Hinata-kun, are you awake?”

“Y-Yeah.” He looked up at the only other person who seemed to be conscious at the moment, Sugawara Koshi. The vice captain gave a long sigh from where he was leaning against a net pole, surveying the area with confused eyes. Hinata followed his gaze around the room, finally cognizant enough to realize that wherever they were, it wasn’t where they were supposed to be.

All around Hinata sprawled a large gym, complete with two volleyball courts, nets and all. It looked similar to the college stadiums that he had seen in magazines before, except that there were no logos anywhere, no indication as to where they might be. Even the walls were exceptionally bare of a mascot or organization name. On the floor, his team members were sprawled out haphazardly, all of them in uncomfortable-looking positions. “What the hell happened?” Hinata asked Suga, his voice barely above a whisper as he sat on the wooden floor dumbfoundedly. “The last thing I remember was being on the bus, and now...” He waved his arms spastically, indicating the strange predicament they were in. “Do you know what’s going on, Suga-senpai?”

The hopeful look on Hinata’s face deflated when Sugawara shook his head sadly. “No idea. I just woke up maybe five or ten minutes ago, so I don’t get anything right now.”Any other words he was about to say were cut off by a groan coming from the other side of the net Sugawara was leaning on, and a shaking figure slowly rose to a sitting position.

“Kageyama!”

Both Hinata and Sugawara shouted his name at the same time, and Sugawara paced over to where the raven haired boy was trying to stand up, with little success. “Don’t push yourself, okay? Whatever knocked us out is still going to make you weak for a little while, so just rest for now.”Instead of biting back that _he was fine, he can handle himself_ like always, Kageyama Tobio just nodded and looked around, gauging the situation. In the time it took him to take in his surroundings, Hinata had crawled to him and was poking at him irritatingly.

“What do you want?” He ground out, at which Hinata grinned.

“Even if we don’t know what’s going on, I’m glad to know that grouchy Kageyama is a constant!”

“Why you little-!” Sugawara just huffed and laughed lightly at his underclassmen’s antics, keeping an eye out for anybody else who looked like they were about to awaken.

Although he tried to keep a cool head for the sake of the other two, Suga’s mind was filled with doubt, and his calm smile wavered ever so slightly even as he saw Asahi and Daichi both coming to. _What the hell was going on,_ he asked himself, glimpsing at Hinata helping Kageyama limp towards the upperclassmen, _and why did it happen to_ them _?_

* * *

 

“You're the last one left, Nishinoya-senpai," Hinata sighed, poking at the comatose second year that everybody had gathered around. "Wake up already!"

Sugawara sent a pleading look towards the first-in-command, but even Daichi had long given up on the rambunctious group. Hinata was still poking incessantly at the sleeping Nishinoya, with a worried Asahi hovering over them both; Ennoshita was huddling in a nearby corner, leaning against the wall and humming nonsensically to himself; Tsukishima had started another row with Kageyama, while Yamaguchi tried to calm down both parties, to no avail. Even Tanaka was preoccupied, jogging around the gymnasium that he had confirmed to be locked up tight - _“There’s no way we’d be able to get out, not without some serious firepower.”_ With such an odd predicament, even the captain was having difficulties keeping everybody in line for more than five seconds, and so had given up in favor of waiting for _anything_ to happen.

“Success!!” Hinata’s shriek of joy was accompanied by a groan that the upperclassmen (regrettably) knew all too well, the sound reminiscent of an underage drinker feeling the first touches of a morning hangover.

"I can't move my anything." Nishinoya's blunt statement was received with chuckles, and he barely protested as Asahi offered him a shoulder to lean on while Daichi explained their current situation - namely, the fact that nobody really knew _what_ the situation was.

“So we’re pretty much stuck here for an indefinite amount of time until either we die from dehydration or are rescued,” Tsukishima deadpanned, receiving a surprisingly high-pitched yelp from Tanaka and a miniature scream of horror from Hinata. Sawamura was ready to chastise the first year for scaring the others, but a voice echoed through the gym, cutting through the noise.

"Upupupu, not quite!"

The regular lights in the gym suddenly shut off, and several girlish screams rang out from unidentifiable teammates. The soft white of the top lights were replaced by the floodlights by the balcony seats, centered on a mysterious figure standing not too far from the group of high schoolers. "How do you like the entrance? Not too flashy, I hope?"

The figure was met with silence from its hostages, until finally- "A bear?"

"Yes, I _am_ a bear, ya bastard! Thanks for noticing!" Upon closer inspection,  however, it was made apparent that their kidnapper was no ordinary bear; its entire being was split into black and white, only made more terrifying by its glowing red eye. "But enough with the trivialities, you know?" It bowed towards the Karasuno group, and they took a step back from the crazed teddy bear. "The name is Monokuma, and welcome to your doom!" A brief pause. "What, you can't take a joke?"

A manic chuckle erupted from a disbelieving Hinata, earning a slap in the back of the head from Kageyama. “What do you want from us, _Monokuma?_ ” He asked angrily, daring to take a step forward.

Another one of Monokuma’s strange chuckles echoed around them, and the bear in question placed its - his? - hands on his hips with a smile. “Good question, Kageyama Tobio-kun! But before we get to the fun part, I need to introduce you to your new home for the time being, right?” His arms swept around him in a large arc, referring to the volleyball court on which they were standing. “Welcome to Despair Academy, built especially for your leisure. Right outside those doors you see,” -a _click_ resounded through the room, signalling that the iron double doors behind them that Tanaka had called locked moments before were now open, “-is an entire building dedicated to whatever you need! Books? We got a library! Food? Kitchen’s down the hall and to the right. Interaction with the outside world? well then...and of course, you have your volleyball courts. God forbid Karasuno High, the rising crows, be denied their volleyball! You can do anything you want while you enjoy your stay - except for leave, of course!”

“Why not?” Daichi demanded before anybody else could get a word in. “What’s the point in keeping us all locked in here?” Nobody on the team had ever seen their captain so angry. Not even Asahi or Koushi, who had known Daichi far longer than the underclassmen, could admit that the adamance in his eyes was familiar to them. He wasn’t just a team captain in that moment, he was the only wall standing between them and Monokuma. “What do you _gain_ by keeping us separate from the rest of the world?”

Monokuma hummed thoughtfully at Daichi’s forceful question, before replying simply, “Despair.” The team captain stepped back in shock as the insane teddy bear continued. “Why I’ve gathered you all here is simply for the sake of despair! I want to see how long you can make it with hope in a place like this, how long a Super High School Level Volleyball Team such as yourselves can survive without resorting to _drastic measures_!”

Kageyama practically doubled over coughing at Monokuma’s words, and it took him a moment before his eyes trailed up to meet Monokuma’s. “What the hell do you mean by ‘drastic measures’?”

Another round of sinister snickers. “Well, what else could somebody mean by ‘drastic measures’? You know the answer already - murder, of course!”

The group was torn between shocked silence and shouts of denial, and the consensus was to glance at each other fearfully. “K-Kill each other?” It was Yamaguchi to speak up this time. “You expect us to just...kill each other? Just like that?”

“Of course not! What would the point of murder be if there were no incentive?” Monokuma smirked to himself at the thought of beautiful, delicious, _senseless_ murder, even though he knew that people could be too stubborn to agree to such a thing. “Actually, I have some terms that I think you would be more than happy to agree to.” He held up one paw in thought, his smirk dropping for a solitary moment before returning in full force. “How about this: if you can find it in yourself to kill somebody...

“then I’ll let you go free.”

* * *

That night, after Monokuma had shown the nerve wracked students to their rooms - all singles, or there would be no fun in the torture to follow - and disappeared, Daichi reluctantly called a team meeting over dinner, one that wouldn’t be denied else they wanted to face the slowly growing wrath of Sawamura Daichi, who was proving to have a shorter fuse in difficult situations than originally thought.

“E-Eh, senpai, is this really-” One look from the team captain made Hinata shrink away from him, leaving his unanswered question hanging. None of the other boys tried to interrupt the silence, a noiseless pause that lasted longer than any of them were comfortable with.

Finally, Daichi spoke. “We have everything we need here.” Several confused glances spurred him on. “We have food, we have water, and we have shelter. Like... _Monokuma..._ said, we have everything we need, and before long, the outside world will not mean anything to any of us.” The reluctance in his voice was obvious, but still he barely wavered, determined to keep his team safe. “I know you aren’t going to want to hear this, but we’re going to have to give up leaving for now.” The unspoken _until we’re found_ barely helped with the team morale, but it was there nonetheless. “ _Nobody_ is going to die. Everybody got that?”

“Y-Yeah!” Everybody turned to Sugawara, who nodded first at Daichi, than at the others. “We definitely don’t want anybody dead, so...yeah!” Although quiet, the collective yeses from the rest of the group encouraged the team captain at least slightly, and he stood up, ignoring the gawking from his underclassmen as he headed towards the kitchen.

“Well then, I’m going to find something to cook, unless you want to starve yourselves.”

“A-Ah, I’ll help!” The others released a collective sigh as Koushi jumped up to assist Daichi. The last thing _anybody_ wanted was to be the victim of food poisoning a la Sawamura.

* * *

 

“Hey...Kageyama, do you really think that one of us is desperate enough to kill?” The setter glanced over at Hinata, who was sitting right outside his own room, tugging at the key card hanging on a lanyard around his neck. If Kageyama were to be completely honest, he wouldn’t doubt for a minute that at least _somebody_ would make a real attempt to escape, but he wasn’t sure if that was his bad memories talking; he had a knack for projecting betrayal onto others.

Hinata flinched as Kageyama took a step away from his room and towards Hinata’s door, assuming that he would just receive another one of Kageyama’s signature punches to the head. Instead, though, he was surprised to feel a cold hand ruffle his orange hair. “You’ve always been an idiot,” Kageyama sighed, looking away from his partner even as he tried to comfort the shorter teen. “We’re a team, if you haven’t forgotten. None of us just give up on each other.”

Astonished, Hinata stared at Kageyama for a moment before grinning widely and nodding. “Yeah. You’re right, for once. Nothing’s gonna make us turn our backs on each other!”

The comforting moment only lasted a second more, before a dark look crossed Kageyama’s face. The grip on Hinata’s hair suddenly tightened, making him flinch once again. “What do you mean...for once...?”

* * *

 

The next morning brought a tense, yet stable, calm between the members of the Karasuno High School volleyball team, as did the day after that, and the day after _that_. By the fifth day, it was obvious that murder was the farthest thing from anybody’s minds, and that without a little push, nothing was going to happen.

The Karasuno boys themselves had agreed on a schedule similar to the days of their training camps, filled with volleyball, food, and a general lack of time to plot against one another. It wasn’t the perfect setup, but it was constant, and constance was something that they all appreciated. It was definitely better, at least, than worrying about somebody stabbing you in the back every waking moment.

Their rhythm, however, was broken by Monokuma one day during lunch. It was Day Seven - Yamaguchi had resorted to keeping track with a sharpie he had found in an unlocked classroom on Day Two - and the boys had just sat down to Tsukishima’s oddly appetizing concoction of hamburger steak and grilled squid when the PA system, which usually only served as the team’s means of morning alarm (“ _Good morning, ya bastards!”_ ) and curfew call (“ _Shut your eyes or you won’t have ‘em tomorrow morning, upupupu!”_ ), turned on with a crackle. " _Everybody report to the library ASAP, or else!"_

A murmur spread through the group, _whats_ and _whys_ leaving the same bad taste in everybody's mouths. They each stood up, some more hesitant than others, and collectively made their way to where Monokuma was no doubt waiting with what he would consider to be an “exciting development”.

When they first entered the library, they were surprised that Monokuma was nowhere to be seen, and that a circle of tables with laptops had replaced a large portion of the bookshelves in the center of the first floor of the library. In front of the tables, a large projector had been assembled, currently off but no doubt ready for its nefarious purpose.

Indeed, as soon as the last of the team members - Daichi, who had checked for stragglers before closing the door - entered the room, the projector lit up with a _whir_ and a large display of Monokuma appeared in high definition in front of them. "I'm glad to see that everybody could make it," he said casually, as though he hadn't threatened them with their lives. "Now, unless you're blind, you'll see laptops with your name on them."

Upon further inspection, the computers did indeed have their names scrawled on the top in silver marker, all of the characters different levels of unreadable katakana. Whoever had written them had a very basic grasp of Japanese, if at all. Taking their cue from Monokuma, each teen stood in front of their respective laptop and grabbed the pair of headphones laying beside it on the table.

With one word from Monokuma, the laptops lit up, each displaying a different scene. Confusion was the first to flicker across each player's face, followed by various degrees of horror. Some were plagued with silent screams, while others were more vocal with their panic at whatever Monokuma was showing to them; Yamaguchi took it the hardest, lasting barely a moment before he fainted on the spot, his laptop flickering off momentarily after. Sugawara came close, but glanced up at the others and steeled himself to keep watching the footage playing against the backdrop of his childhood city. Daichi had his eyes shut and Tsukishima threw his blue frames on the table, covering his face with his hands, but that did nothing to shield them from the words whispering in their ears through their headphones. The only person who had taken theirs off was Hinata, but the sobs wracking his small frame were enough to prove that even Karasuno's personal sun wasn't immune to the visual poison Monokuma had chosen especially for him.

"What the fuck!" Tanaka's outburst went unnoticed as Kageyama slammed the library door behind him forcefully, making the others flinch at his violent behavior. Asahi instinctively reached out to find something to hold onto to stop his shaking, and Nishinoya grabbed his wrist, not wanting to admit that he himself was just as scared. It was easier to provide comfort than ask for it himself.

After what felt like ages, the laptops dimmed and clicked shut of their own accord, leaving the room soundless, save for the sobs still emanating from under the table that Hinata's laptop was situated on. "H-He really knows that much about... _all_ of us?" Sugawara spoke first, breaking the tense silence them.  growing amongst the group. One more hiccup came from Hinata’s area before a blur of orange and black streaked out from under the table and threw itself against the sturdy library door. He struggled with the handle for a moment before finally managing to pull the door open and leave with as much force as Kageyama had earlier.

“Don’t.” Daichi saw the look in his vice-captain’s eyes, but even Koushi’s words wouldn’t be able to help them in that moment. “They need to cool down...we all do.” He nodded at Tsukishima, who was kneeling next to the unconscious Yamaguchi, and motioned towards to door, a nonverbal command to take him to his room. Without another word, the two underclassmen left as well, leaving behind only the second- and third-years.

Asahi was still shaking, clutching onto the hand that had slid into his own. Nishinoya glanced at Sawamura before straightening up from his position leaning over the table. “I’ll go with Asahi. You three stay together, too.” He closed his eyes and breathed in sharply, preparing himself, before looking directly at them. “I don’t think it’s safe to be alone right now.”

Daichi hummed in agreement before glancing over at Tanaka, who, uncharacteristically, still hadn’t spoken a word. Sugawara had already placed his arm around the shell shocked teen, guiding him towards the exit. As the two groups parted in the hallway, Asahi stared after his classmates, yelling out, “W-We aren’t going to die, you know.”

With Daichi turned around to reply, only Sugawara heard Tanaka’s mutterings, and even he played it off as a trick of the mind. After all, Tanaka wasn’t a threatening person...none of them were...

“ _Che...can you really prove that, though?_ ”

* * *

 

“He’s still in a daze, but he should be fine,” Sugawara muttered, closing the door behind him. Tanaka was safely locked in his room now, and the captain and his vice were roomed right next to each other, so the two felt reassured that everybody was safe. It was hard to believe that a week before, they would have laughed at the thought of protecting the team from _each other_ , of all people.

Daichi nodded and ran a hand through his black hair, feeling much older than he really was. “Yeah.” There wasn’t much else to say, so he just walked next to Sugawara, not saying anything but not quite satisfied with the silence, either; it wasn’t awkward or tense, but something felt off with the way Koushi looked straight ahead, shoulders tense. “Hey, are you-”

“Ah, we’re here.” His question was cut off by their arrival at their rooms, and Sugawara crossed Daichi without even looking at him, holding his keycard up to the reader. It was obvious that he was avoiding the other man, and Daichi simply sighed before passing him to get to his own room.

Before he was able to open his door, however, a small “ _hey_ ” caught his attention. “Don’t worry,” Suga said as soon as Daichi’s attention was on him. “Don’t worry about me,” he repeated, “you have enough to deal with as it is with the younger ones. Asahi has Nishinoya, and...I can take care of myself.”

Daichi let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding, and smiled softly as he watched Suga retreat into his room. There was no use in telling the silver-haired teen that the only thing that was worrying him was the fact that Sugawara was trying to act tough.

With a breathy laugh, he entered his room and closed the door.

* * *

 

“You can walk on your own, you geezer,” Nishinoya hissed, trying - and failing - to pry his hand from Asahi’s clutches. “Look, see? That’s your room right there!” The ace seemed slightly surprised, but finally released Nishinoya’s hand and shot the libero an apologetic smile.

“Sorry about that, Noya. Just the nerves, I guess.” Nishinoya’s response was to roll his eyes and stand in front of Asahi, hands crossed over his chest and feet shoulder-width apart.

“Oy!” His sudden bark made Asahi stiffen up. “Don’t give me that! Snap out of it right now, or you’re not going anywhere!” In any other situation, the idea of the shortest member of the Karasuno High School volleyball team threatening to physically restrain the second tallest member would be laughable, but Asahi was high strung and Nishinoya was slowly growing angrier by the moment and nothing was really making sense anymore. “You said it yourself, right? Nobody’s going to die.”

“R-Right,” Asahi repeated mechanically, “nobody’s going to die.” Nishinoya scanned him critically before nodding and releasing his stance. The tension drained from him almost immediately, and he clasped Asahi’s shoulder, grinning widely.

“Yosh, now get to bed.” Asahi nodded and fumbled with his keycard as Nishinoya turned away, towards his own door.

Asahi finally managed to open his door, but looked over at Nishinoya before he stepped over the threshold. “Noya?”

“Hm?” The teen was still fiddling with his cardreader agitatedly, and didn’t look up even as he heard the other address him. If anything, Asahi thought that it was so like him to do that.

“...Thanks.”

“No problem, you scaredy cat. Now go to sleep.” With a shake of his head, Asahi’s grin turned more genuine - still not completely there, but it was close and that was enough for now - and he closed the door behind him, leaving a frustrated Nishinoya cursing under his breath at the cardreader.

* * *

 

When Yamaguchi finally awoke, he was greeted by the pale white of the ceiling in his room and a mop of blond barely inside his peripheral vision. “T-Tsukki, what-”

“You fainted during...that,” Tsukishima replied vaguely, waving his hands to indicate the fiasco that had occurred the day earlier. “You’ve been out for pretty much a day now.” Yamaguchi nodded and sat up, accepting a glass of water from the other teen when Tsukishima offered it to him. It was pretty bad, he had to admit to himself, fainting in front of the others like that, but it wasn't like he had any control over his actions, and _anybody_ would be traumatized after seeing-

He stopped his thoughts momentarily and glanced at his friend, who wasn't looking him in the eye but instead focusing on the carpet, an ugly shade of chartreuse that Yamaguchi wouldn't wish upon his mortal enemies. Even Tsukishima, as cold-hearted as he may have seemed to the other first years, had something to be protective of, _someone_ to be protective of. And Yamaguchi was almost appalled at himself for not knowing what made his best friend so wound up, or even how he could help. "Tsukki, what did your..."

"Don't ask," Kei interrupted quickly, still calm regardless of the topic. His red rimmed glasses barely hid the tense pain in in his eyes, still fresh from the day before. Yamaguchi dropped the topic immediately and stood up, glancing down at his only friend. "Are you hungry? The others should be up by now."

Yamaguchi nodded hesitantly, and Tsukishima stepped outside to wait for him while he changed. Still, the thought lingered in his mind, the _why_ and the _how_ that made his Tsukki's brain tick.

With a reluctant sigh, he pulled out a clean pair of clothes and got around to getting ready for the day. There was no point in moping over stubborn boys and unanswered questions, not when there were consequences to being late for the more important things in life (read: breakfast).

After all, everything could wait for tomorrow.

* * *

 

“Everybody’s late,” Nishinoya whined, propping his feet up on one of the cafeteria tables. He was exaggerating, of course, but it was apparent that there were more than a few faces missing. Currently, Asahi was practically asleep in his seat next to the second-year, obviously not having slept as much as he should have the night prior. Tanaka was sprawled out on the floor without a care in the world with Ennoshita sitting not too far away, and Daichi and Suga had retreated to the kitchen to cook something for breakfast. Although nobody had forgotten the horrifying videos of the day prior, those thoughts were pushed aside in favor of some semblance of normal life.

“S-Sorry,” a voice echoed down the hall, and the same streak of orange and black that had absconded so quickly the day before came hurtling into the cafeteria. Hinata gripped the side of the wall and doubled over, panting, but grinned at the others nonetheless (everybody could see through the fake smile plastered on his face, but there wasn’t much to say to that, not when everything else was just as real). “Sorry I’m late! So what’s for breakfast? I’m starving!”

Before anybody could reply, a shadow covered Hinata, and the redhead looked up to see Tsukishima looming over him, Yamaguchi trailing not too far behind. “So are you going to move or not, shorty?” He asked distastefully, and Hinata’s cheerful smile soured at the taunt. He made to retort, but Tsukishima simply brushed past him, sitting far away from the others. Yamaguchi shot Hinata an apologetic smile and a shrug before joining his friend.

“Don’t fight too much, you know,” Suga’s calming voice interrupted Hinata’s seething as the silver-haired teen appeared in the kitchen doorway. “So all we’re missing is Kageyama, right? Has anybody seen him?”

“He left early yesterday,” Tanaka replied from the floor, “and he just kind of disappeared.” Several murmurs of agreement came from the others, at which Sugawara sighed. So _nobody_ had seen Kageyama since the incident yesterday.

He turned his attention to the missing boy’s partner, who already knew what Suga was going to ask, even without voicing his question. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll go look for him.” He grumbled under his breath, something about _ba-Kageyama, asshole_ and _of course he’d be late_ , and stalked out of the cafeteria, heading towards Kageyama’s room in search of the raven haired first year.

The room returned to silence, and Sugawara sighed, feeling tired all of a sudden. His gaze lingered on the quiet group in front of him, before he turned to head back into the kitchen - just to be caught off guard by a cacophonous caterwaul from down the corridor.

Tanaka sat up, his attention focused on the cafeteria door, while Asahi woke up with a snort and Nishinoya practically fell out of his chair. Even Yamaguchi and Tsukishima looked surprised at the sudden noise, the usually unwavering freshmen sitting up straight in their seats. Daichi appeared from the back and frowned darkly. “Everybody, stay here.” He didn’t have to tell anybody twice, and they all remained paralyzed as Sawamura strode out of the cafeteria towards the source of the noise.

However, Sugawara snapped out of the trance as the door closed behind the captain, and ran after him, worried about what would have caused such a ruckus. Not too far behind him were the rest of the team, each of them with a mixture of curiosity and fear evident on their faces. Another shout, this one deeper than the cry from before and no doubt belonging to Daichi, came from the direction of the library, and a sickness settled in the pit of Sugawara’s stomach.

What greeted the group was a sight that had haunted them all from the first day. “K-Kageyama, come on...this i-isn’t funny...” Daichi was holding the door to the library open, and Suga could see Hinata leaning over something - _somebody,_ he _knew_ who it was, but he _couldn’t_ be - muttering under his breath. His forehead was pressed against Kageyama’s, hands cupping the setter’s cheeks. “Wake up, Ba-Kageyama! C-Come on, wake up!”

Daichi finally took the initiative to tear Hinata away from Kageyama, the redhead still yelling, _screaming_ at Kageyama to _wake up right now or so help me God_ , and Sugawara immediately felt like he was going to be sick. There was blood everywhere, _so much blood_ , and there was no way Kageyama was...but he _was_ , and...shit, shit shit _shit!_

The vice-captain fled the area before he threw up on somebody, and nobody did anything to stop him. The shock was still setting in among the others, moments away from hyperventilation even though it felt like hours before anybody really registered the fact that Kageyama was dead, _Kageyama was dead and somebody there had killed him and-_

Somebody had murdered Kageyama Tobio.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think we broke Hinata.
> 
> So, in true Dangan Ronpa fashion (kind of), we're going to be holding a poll at the end of every chapter! This chapter's poll is a preliminary guess as to [who killed Kageyama](http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LZ65PTY), and we'll be resetting the poll after the next chapter, which will be the evidence collection chapter. Then when we post the trial chapter, there'll be a poll to guess who the next victim will be.
> 
> (This won't effect the story however, so don't think that somebody will die just because you vote for them.)
> 
> Just follow that link above, and answer the three super short questions on the page. Thanks!


	3. Long Live - Abnormal Days

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the author forgets to add important information in chapter 2 and thus uses a shitty flashback in chapter 3. Also, the italics command is abused.
> 
> Also also, investigating happens. Er. I think.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Editor's Quote of the Week:**
> 
> "Write about hinata fricking a dead body on your own time omg"
> 
> Mia wants me to remind you that we _are_ tracking the **#Fic: AM** tag on Tumblr, so if you have any questions, comments or anything else, shoot us something on our personals ([The Writer](http://kageyamagotchi.tumblr.com/) and [The Editor/Artist](http://toukayoghoul.tumblr.com/)) or in the tag!
> 
> (Mia really, _really_ wants fanart.)

“ _Upupupu_!” The static voice of Monokuma was what snapped them out of their reverie, and the face that the group had learned to despise appeared once more on the projector in front of them, grinning broadly. " _It seems like team bonding didn't quite do the trick, eh? A body has been discovered!"_

"What did you do?" Nishinoya screamed at the monitor, held back by Tanaka lest he destroy something and face Monokuma’s wrath. “You killed him, you bastard! You killed him!”

The bear’s face contorted slightly into a more sinister smirk, a gloating look that sent shivers down the entire team’s spines. “ _I didn’t do it,_ ” he stated, as though it was the most obvious piece of information in the world. “ _I told you already, didn’t I? Doing all the work myself would be no fun!_ ”

The shallow breaths that Hinata took, his fast paced breathing and red face were enough to show that he wasn’t in the best mental condition, even as he muttered to himself. “No...nobody here would kill Kageyama...nobody would kill anybody else, right? Right?” He turned his head sharply, looking desperately between the others, but nobody would make eye contact with him. They didn’t want to believe it either, because they were practically a _family_ , and how could somebody be so _cold-blooded_...but the fact remained that they couldn't be absolutely sure that nobody there was capable of murder.

Or that nobody took that chance.

“So now the murderer gets to go free?” Daichi asked, his voice hardening, letting no emotion slip through whatever cracks there may have been in his facade. He was supposed to be the captain, the one that kept everybody in check... “You said that whoever kills somebody is freed from this place. Do we just let them _walk out the door_?”

“ _Eh, not quite._ ” The crackling of the projected voice could almost have been mistaken for a snicker at Daichi’s question. “ _Do you mind if I have a bit more fun with you? Not that I care what your answer is, but whatever!_ ” The lights dimmed, before flaring brightly, and those in the room shielded their eyes against the harsh rays. When the bulbs finally returned to their mellow glowing, however, the Karasuno boys were shocked to see Monokuma himself, standing next to the projector that, moments prior, had been displaying his face. “You see, after the murder comes the fun part - finding out who did it!”

A long, unbroken silence followed, before unrestrained shouts filled the library. “What do you mean, find out who did it?” Tanaka shouted, anger lacing his voice, even though he held a level of composure that was completely out of character for the hotheaded second year.

Monokuma’s head tilted at an unnatural angle, and he brought one paw up to his cheek, the other supporting wherever his elbow would have been. “I'll give you some basic information of course, I'm not going to let amateurs run around and dissect a perfectly handsome corpse, but it's up to you to figure out who killed your buddy here. If not, well..." He paused and grinned widely, raising both paws above him in a mockery of divine retribution. "Who knows what could happen! You have half an hour until the trial! Good luck, you brats!"

With a final _upupu_ , the lights in the library flashed again, and Monokuma vanished as abruptly as he appeared. The projector was running once more, but displayed a list of bullet points instead of the unsightly teddy bear, no doubt the basic information that Monokuma had promised them.

"I...I don't want to look," Yamaguchi murmured, burying his head into Tsukishima’s shoulder. "I don't want to do anything Monokuma says. Why do we have to?"

"You don't want to know who killed Kageyama?" The voice that came from Hinata was not one befitting of him, the darkness around the edges scaring the others. He was quiet for a moment, before suddenly shouting, "Well, I'm going to find out who did it!" If Hinata's head had moved any faster than it did when he shot up to look at the rest of the team, they would have believed his neck to have snapped. "I'm not going to sit around and say that it's already too late, that he's already dead! He deserves this, okay? He deserves...this..." He turned away from his teammates once more, trying to force down hiccups that were already forming in his throat. Daichi reached out to touch the wing spiker's shoulder as a means of comfort, but Hinata shrugged away from him aggressively, storming out of the room before anybody else could get a word in edgewise.

The silence that followed was broken by a chorus of loud beeps, chiming in tandem from each of the boys' pockets. Quick glances, wary gestures and a long silence were shared among the group, before Daichi finally reached into his pocket, taking out the ID card that gave them access to their rooms.

The others gathered around him, forgetting their own cards in favor of the one in Daichi’s hands, and watched as what they thought was just a normal plastic rectangle faded into translucency. What appeared next on the card was an exact copy of the bullet points that had appeared on the wall, except in a much more portable format. Even though he knew that the others were reading over his shoulder, he read aloud, voice growing unsteady with each word.

  * _Victim: Kageyama Tobio, age fifteen (15)._

  * _Cause of Death: strangulation._

  * _Time of Death: 1:57 AM_

  * _Body Discovered: 7: 23 AM_

  * _Body Located: Library_




“So somebody woke up in the middle of the night to...you know?” Asahi cut in timidly, while the bolder students began examining the body itself.

“There are bruises around his neck,” Nishinoya said finally, as he and Tanaka crouched by Kageyama’s corpse. “Whoever it was strangled him by hand. And there’s blood by the table, too. So...maybe he was pushed?”

“That doesn’t give us much to go on,” Daichi murmured, before repeating his thoughts louder. “So we know that whoever killed him was stronger than him. That’s most of the team.”

“Or taller than him,” Tanaka added. “At least near his height, really. And that makes _all_ of the team.” The team captain’s eyes narrowed, knowing immediately who was ruled out based solely on height. Not that he had suspected them in the first place, but...

He had to admit that he didn’t suspect _anybody_. He didn’t _want_ to. They were his team, so how could he accuse any of them of murdering one of their friends?

His thoughts were interrupted by a crunch, and his attention turned to Nishinoya as the libero raised his foot, revealing shards of glass stuck to the bottom of his shoe. “What was that doing there?” He gently plucked the glass out of his shoe, but before he placed it back down on the ground where it was, he took a minute to examine it, frowning. “There are no cuts on the body, though...”

“Where was everybody last night?” Asahi finally contributed, although it was obvious that he was shaking like a leaf. Even in a time of crisis, his glass heart was as shatterable as ever. “I-I mean...”

“That won’t help much,” Tanaka butted in, “but I was in my room. I didn’t leave after Daichi and Suga dropped me off.”

“I can confirm that. I was in my room, too,” Daichi added, “and the last I saw of Suga was him returning to his, too.”

“Tsukki took me back to my room,” Yamaguchi said, at which Tsukishima grunted in agreement. “He stayed the night.”

Asahi nodded. “I-I went back to my room, Nishinoya can attest to that.” He frowned suddenly, processing something that hadn’t come to mind before. “But Nishinoya, I never saw you return to your room.”

Nishinoya flared up, obviously incensed at the thought of being suspected of murder by the ace. “I was in my room!” He shouted. “Do you really think I would kill _anybody_?”

“Nishinoya, calm down.” Daichi commanded, and the libero growled slightly before relenting. “Everybody’s getting too pent up,” he continued. “Why don’t we...take a break? We have-” he checked his watch, “-fourteen minutes until Monokuma’s so-called trial. It’ll be good to let off some steam. Think about things by yourselves.”

Upon hearing affirmations from most of the group, he broke the group apart, stating that he would check up on Sugawara, make sure he was okay. “And somebody go check up on Hinata,” he added as a final precaution. “He shouldn’t be alone right now...not when he has it the worst, as it is.”

 

* * *

 

Although Yamaguchi’s words still stung, Hinata steeled himself to face the others for the trial and stared at the wall opposite his bed. He had the basics of the murder down, thanks to his ID card, and his thoughts flash backed to a week before, when they had first arrived in the demented school.

 _“Upupupu, do you like your new living conditions?” Monokuma laughed to himself, ignoring the chorus of_ no _s and other protests from the Karasuno team. “Good, because you’re going to just adore the rules I’m setting you up with!”_

“Everybody’s going to claim that they were in their rooms that late at night,” Hinata muttered to himself. “So there’s no way to verify that. But Monokuma said that...”

_“Remember, kiddos, each of your rooms only respond to your specific key card, so no sneaking in and late-night killing. That would be no fun!”_

“You wouldn’t be able to investigate somebody else’s room to see if they had any weapons, or even if they had been in their room that night.” His eyes lit up at his own words. “That’s right! There was also _that_ rule...”

_Monokuma dismissed the team’s unanimous yells that nobody would be killed, late at night or early in the morning. “Eh, that’s what everybody says at first. But even if you wanted to sneak out late at night, you wouldn’t be able to. All students are locked into their rooms from ten o’ clock at night to five o’ clock in the morning. So that means no getting out of your room once you’re in!”_

His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door, followed by three more. When he opened the door, he was surprised to see not one, but two figures standing outside. “Tanaka-senpai, Nishinoya-senpai...what are you doing here?”

“Checking up on our favorite underclassman, of course!” The smiles on both of their faces were obviously forced, and Hinata looked away. “Hey, are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” Although brief, Hinata’s reply was enough to signal that he was, in fact, _not_ fine, but they didn’t have the heart to question him as he opened the door wider, and they stepped aside to make room for the unusually quiet wing spiker. “I’m...going to get something to eat,” Hinata said after a brief pause. “Don’t bother me, please.”

“Listen, Hinata-”

“I said,” he repeated, making Tanaka freeze and retract the hand that was about to clasp Hinata’s shoulder, “don’t bother me. _Please_.”

The look in Hinata’s eyes was one that was all too familiar to the upperclassmen, the look of extreme concentration and almost apathetic determination that terrified some and unnerved everybody else. Glancing at each other, Nishinoya and Tanaka backed off, leaving Hinata to himself.

“It had to be Kageyama, huh,” the taller second year said as soon as Hinata was out of earshot. “Hinata has it rough.”

Nishinoya took a moment to respond, unsure how to word his reply. “I would be like that, too,” he said finally, “if I were him.”

 

* * *

 

It felt more like four hours than fourteen minutes had passed when the PA system rang out with its treacherous chime, and everybody looked up at the ceiling from their various secluded spots around the school. In one corner of the empty hallways, Sugawara glanced at Daichi, who had found him in the bathroom minutes prior, dry heaving into one of the toilets at the sight of one of his dead classmates. The two were now leaned against each other, waiting for the announcement that would just restart the drama they had been trying to avoid.

_“Yer time is up, bastards! Everybody report to the volleyball court immediately!”_

With nothing more than a glance between each other, the captain and his vice helped each other up, walking side by side in silence towards their first class trial.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Both Mia and I were both surprised at how many votes we got on the last poll. Thanks for your feedback and sorry for the delay! The only thing that we can say for now is that some of you are on the right track, and a lot of you have the right idea but might be off by just a little. The new poll can be found [here](https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2FFR75D) \- it's the exact same poll, but it's at a new address so we can collect that data separately from the other to compare the two afterwards.
> 
> As another note, there's an absolutely hilarious blog up on Tumblr called [HomocidalVolleyballNerds](http://homocidalvolleyballnerds.tumblr.com/). We are completely unaffiliated, but I love the blog so much that I thought it deserved a small plug here. There's still Haikyuu!! and murder involved, so I deemed it appropriate to show to you guys. Go check it out if you haven't already!


End file.
